


The Wrong Princess Prom

by TippenFunkaport



Series: SPOP Missing Scenes [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: And is generally having a complete freak out, And thinks Glimmer likes Adora, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Dates, Awkward Kissing, Awkward Romance, Bi Bow, Bi Glimmer, Blood and Injury, Bow is slightly lusting after Sea Hawk, Bow's POV, F/M, Feelings, Feelings Realization, Fluff and Angst, Glimbow, Glimbow Centric, Jealousy, Kissing, Missing Scene, Princess Prom (She-Ra), Tumblr: Glimbow Week, glow - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26315326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TippenFunkaport/pseuds/TippenFunkaport
Summary: Have you ever wondered what Bow thought of Princess Prom and its aftermath? Too bad, I wrote it anyway! :-PFor Glimbow Week’s Princess Prom prompt, a look at key moments from Princess Prom through Battle of Bright Moon from Bow’s perspective. The short sad history of Bowfuma! SeaMista making out in corners! Of COURSE, Bow isn’t jealous of Glimmer and Adora, why would you think that? Inner monologue of a very confused boy who has not figured out his feelings about anything and then gets kidnapped by the Horde. Tale as old as time, really.For the Glimbow Week Prompt: Princess Prom
Relationships: Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow/Perfuma (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra)
Series: SPOP Missing Scenes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877965
Comments: 23
Kudos: 61
Collections: Glimbow Week 2020





	1. The Wrong Princess

**Author's Note:**

> Dear Perfuma,
> 
> I love you, truly, and am very sorry for what I am about to do. Someday I will write you and Scorpia a lovely wedding to make up for it. But, in the meantime, this is a Glimbow fic and, well, I had to do what I had to do.
> 
> Sorry,  
> Tippen

How are Adora and Glimmer getting to the Kingdom of Snows? Bow wondered as he zoned out of the small talk Perfuma was making with the family on the bench across from them. When Perfuma asked him, he’d kind of assumed they’d all just take the same transport up together. All together like a big ole group of friends! But instead Glimmer had gotten all weird, and now it was just him and Perfuma.

Which was fine! Perfuma was really nice. And friendly! Whenever he and Glimmer had to take one of the transports, she got annoyed whenever he tried to talk to the other passengers but Perfuma seemed determine to make friends everyone that came into their compartment. So, that was good, right?

Nice and friendly. That’s two things in common!

Perfuma caught his eye and smiled. He smiled back. She seemed to like the necklace he’d gotten her, which was a relief since he’d had no idea what to give her. You couldn’t exactly get a flower princess a corsage! It looked good on her. She looked good too. He’d told her that when he’d arrived in Plumeria to pick her up.

That’s a pretty dress! Wow, your hair is so much longer than I thought! …then he’d pretty much run out of things to say. At least she smelled awesome, like being in the middle of the Bright Moon garden in springtime, but he wasn’t sure if it was some kind of faux pas to point out that the flower princess smelled like flowers.

Glimmer would know. He turned instinctively to ask her only to realize that, of course, she wasn’t there. It’s fine, he knew how the conversation would go anyway. They never ran out of stuff to talk about.

“Glimmer, is it weird to tell the flower princess she smells like flowers?”

“Yes, Bow! Would you tell me I smell like the moon?”

He grinned. He could picture exactly the face she would make. Then he sighed and watched the snowy landscape go by through his own faded reflection. The last time he’d worn this suit was when he’d gone with Glimmer to the Etherian Ecological Preservation Society ball last year. He’d had to roll up the sleeves a little to hide the stain from where she’d managed to get lipstick on his cuff. She always tried to lead, even when she didn’t know the steps and they ended up colliding more times than not. Maybe they’d still get a chance to goof around like that tonight.

Or maybe she’d be doing that with Adora.

Obviously, he wasn’t jealous or anything. Adora was his friend too! And she was great. He loved Adora. Though apparently not like Glimmer did since she’d been drooling over She-Ra since day one. Which was fine, She-Ra was very impressive, it just seemed a little weird to have a crush on an ancient warrior lady who shared your friend’s face. He couldn’t explain how Glimmer going with Adora was weird and Glimmer going with him was fine and normal, but it just WAS. How was he supposed to know she wasn’t planning on asking Adora after all that?

Fine, maybe he was a little jealous. But only because it used to be just the two of them and now Glimmer and Adora had the whole princess thing going on and he was just… over here. For all he’d known, he wouldn’t have been able to go at all if Perfuma hadn’t asked.

He leaned his forehead against the cold glass of the window. Damn it, Glimmer, why didn’t you just ask me earlier? The whole Best Friend Squad would be sitting here right now laughing and trying to figure out what the moon even smells like instead of everything being awkward and confusing.

“You’ve been quiet.” Perfuma rested her hand on his knee. He turned to look at her and noticed the family she was talking to must have gotten off at the last stop. They were alone for the first time all trip.

“Just watching the scenery. I’ve never been up this far before.”

“Ah, I understand. There is nothing like watching the world pass peacefully by to inspire some tranquil meditation and introspection.”

“Uh, yeah.” He forced a smile. He needed to just forget about the whole Glimmer thing. However it had happened, he was going with Perfuma and she was nice and friendly and smelled awesome. It was a good idea. Making new friends, strengthening alliances, keeping your options open so when one friend ditched you, you at least had other options instead of being left behind. Or, OK, when your friend doesn’t really ditch you but you still end up left out because she didn’t even think to ask you until the day before because she just took for granted that you would—

“What do you think?”

His eyes focused on Perfuma and he realized she’d been talking to him and he hadn’t been listening at all. “About the...” Shoot, what had she even been talking about? “Meditation?” With Perfuma, that was always a safe guess.

“Mmhmm. I was asking if you would like to tap into the harmonious energies of the natural wonders of this magnificent icy landscape by doing a little guided meditation with me.”

“Uh, no. That’s okay. I’m good.” He’d already done the meditation thing with her before they left Plumaria and he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but it wasn’t really for him. “I’d rather just kind of watch the scenery go by while I can. It’ll be too dark to see anything on the way back.”

“Oh, there’s no need to worry about that! I reserved us a room for the evening so we can begin our journey back tomorrow morning. I always find it so thrilling to greet an old friend like the sun in unfamiliar lands, don’t you?”

“Um, yeah, sure.”

Wait. A room. So, like, one room? With, like, one bed? That was... Well, he shared a room with Adora and Glimmer all the time and that was fine. He’d even shared a bed with Glimmer a bunch of times so it was obviously just a very normal thing that friends did together it’s just that... Perfuma was a couple of years older than he was and even though he was thinking of this as a friend date, what if she was thinking of this as like a date date?

The thought filled him with a non-zero amount of panic.

They’d reached another stop. An elderly couple entered their compartment. Perfuma turned to greet them and her hand slid until it wasn’t so much on his knee as on his thigh. Really more like inner thigh. And, uh, he was not entirely sure he was comfortable with it being there.

OK. She’s busy talking to the couple, she probably doesn’t even realize it’s there. I’ll probably just embarrass her if I point it out. He flushed and debated internally for several minutes before deciding that the easiest way out of this situation was to remove her hand under the pretense of holding it. He was certain that was a friends thing. He and Glimmer did it all the time! He took her hand in his and Perfuma looked over, her face coloring.

“How nice! I know not everyone is comfortable connecting with others as physically as I am but I’m glad you agree that there is no better way to get to know someone that by intimate knowledge of their physical being.” She leaned in and gave him a look that gave him a weird feeling in his stomach. Not really a good feeling. “I am so looking forward to getting to know you better this evening.”

Uh, was that just hippie talk or did that mean what he thought it meant? He swallowed. He was staring to think maybe he was a little in over his head when the transport slowed and he realized they’d arrived at the Kingdom of Snows.


	2. At the Prom

Now that they were actually at the ball, Bow was feeling pretty great. He was great at this! He hadn’t screwed up any of the etiquette stuff too badly! People laughed at his jokes! Strangers smiled at his small talk! He could eat the little hors d’oeuvres thingies without dropping them on his white jacket! He was absolutely acing this party!

Perfuma could make friends with anyone. Combined they were were like some kind of super friendship team! And how crazy was this, if you thought about it? Here he was, just a regular guy, at the fanciest party on the entire planet with a princess! An elemental one, too. Perfuma was a big deal. Maybe not as big a deal as being both a princess and half angel, but there were a lot of awed stares and whispers as they walked past.

Not that he cared about that. Obviously he didn’t.

OK, was it so bad that maybe he did? A little bit? It was normal, right, to like a little attention? It was nice to know that tonight he wasn’t just the non-magic sidekick. He’d been part of a duo and then a trio for so long, it was exciting to be out here on his own.

Sea Hawk was finishing a story that seemed at least 50% BS but Bow laughed to make up for the fact that Mermista was giving him a death glare. He could not figure those two out. She acted like she hated Sea Hawk’s guts half the time, but then he and Perfuma had caught them making out in a corner on the way back from the buffet. Mermista must like him more than she let on.

Sea Hawk did look good in a suit. Like, really good. Like, a whole different genre of weird feelings in his stomach good. At least until he started talking and then it kind of ruined it.

Mermista and Sea Hawk were probably sharing a room after the ball tonight. The thought didn’t make him anymore comfortable with the idea of sharing one with Perfuma. He should just talk to her about it, but what if she wasn’t thinking what he was thinking she was thinking, and it made everything awkward?

Gods, this would be so much easier if Adora and Glimmer were here. They would all be hanging out together and just invite Perfuma back for ice cream with them. Just a big ole group of pals hanging out like friends do. That WAS the plan for tonight until SOMEONE ruined it.

What the hell was Glimmer’s problem? She’d been so rude before. Cutting him off, refusing to hang out with them, going on about how she and Adora were having so much fun just the two of them. Like, excuse me?

He was still pretty mad about that. Perfuma said it was no big deal when he tried to apologize, but it clearly upset her. And it wasn’t like Adora was even hanging out with her! Every time he’d looked over at Glimmer, she’d been by herself.

And watching him.

Not that he was watching her or anything.

He’d never seen that dress Glimmer was wearing before. Very poofy. Definitely something her mom picked out. But she looked cute, especially with her shoulders exposed so you could see her wings. She had this tank top she wore to bed in the summer, and he’d woken up staring at those tattoos on dozens of sleepovers. He always had the weirdest urge to just nuzzle into that spot right between those two little wings.

Which was a kind of bizarre thing to think about your best friend, especially when you were as annoyed with her as he was right now, so he pushed it out of his head and tried to concentrate on the story Perfuma was telling about some kind of confusion about a succulent and a succubus which was apparently hilarious to everyone else who’d been paying attention. He laughed along with the others and glanced at Glimmer again.

Just come down here! Everyone you know at this party is down here. Well, except for Entrapta who’d waved to him from halfway up a pillar before disappearing into the rafters, but he wasn’t sure Glimmer cared that much for her anyway. He kept having to fight the urge to go up and talk to her. She was the one who told him to buzz off and was rude to his date. She could sulk in a corner all night for all he cared.

He’s started a story, and he knew he was talking a little too loud, but it just felt like he needed to make sure she knew he was having plenty of fun without her down here. See? Some people like hanging out with me! I’m a freaking delight! He was halfway through the story before he realized he was repeating himself, telling the one about the flying horse again. Which was actually Perfuma’s story.

He gave up on the story and Perfuma quickly picked up the slack with some kind of joke about peonies he didn’t really get but laughed loudly at anyway. He glanced up to see if Glimmer was watching, but she wasn’t where he’d last seen her. Where’d she go? He whipped around to the staircase so fast he almost took out a waiter. Maybe she was coming down to join him finally?

Nope. No sign of her. That she’d ignited that tiny bit of hope in him only to dash it only made him madder.

At least someone wanted to be with him tonight. He reached out to wrap his arm around Perfuma’s but she moved and he ended up wrapping his arm around her waist instead. Oops, well, he was committed to the gesture now.

“Do you want to take a walk?” He wanted to see more of the castle. That was it. He wasn’t looking for anyone or anything.

“Oh, uh, sure.” Perfuma blushed. She looked surprised about the arm on the waist thing and he wondered if maybe he should move it. It didn’t really feel natural. This wasn’t the first time this had happened tonight. Maybe being best friends with Glimmer had given him a kind of warped perspective on what amount of touching was normal between friends. They were moving through a tight group, and he took the opportunity to take his hand off Perfuma’s waist and hold her arm instead.

He tried to focus on the castle and not his sudden fixation with whether he and Glimmer touched each other a normal amount or not for best friends. He was probably never going to get to visit the Kingdom of Snows again. Might as well see as much of it as he could while he was here. His dads would go nuts for it. They usually only saw places like this when they were in ruins. It sucked that he could never tell them about any of this, that this entire part of his life he had to hide from them.

He wondered what they would say about this whole Glimmer thing. Probably just to stay away from princesses because they’re all trouble. Maybe they were right. Still…

“Are you OK?” Perfuma was watching his face. He put on a smile.

“Yeah.” They had stepped outside to the frozen balcony just outside the ballroom where it was too cold to think about anything. “Wow, it’s sooo cold out here.”

“But so beautiful!” Perfuma had guided them to what looked like a flowered tree that had frozen solid. The whole place was like a springtime garden frozen in time. It was kind of beautiful… in a freezing cold way.

“Do you want my jacket?” He offered. The literal last thing he wanted to do right now was take off his jacket, but he knew it was the gentlemanly thing to do. Thank gods she shook her head no.

“Thank you, but I’m fine. The power of the mighty Etherian evergreens flows through my veins!”

Bow nodded, not sure if that was literal or some kind of metaphor. It was hard to tell with Perfuma sometimes. There were some ice sculptures along the wall of imposing looking people that were probably Frosta’s relations. It was getting late and the way the setting sun shone through the ice made everything glow golden. It was incredible.

But still way way too cold. He tried to wrap his free arm around himself without making it too obvious. He scanned the garden.

“We seem to be the only people out here.” Maybe she’d take the hint so they could go back inside.

“So we are.” Perfuma was giving him that weird look again, the same one from the train that gave him that panicky feeling in his stomach. Maybe he should take this chance when they were alone to explain that he appreciated her offer and he liked her a lot, as a friend, but he wasn’t interested in—

He shivered involuntarily.

“Listen, Perfuma. I-I’m having a great time with you tonight. You’re amazing. So nice and you look wonderful b-but—” The chill was making its way through his entire body and he was regretting opting out of his cumberbund. He inhaled, and the air was so cold it actually hurt.

“Oh, are you cold?” Perfuma turned to him, touching the side of his face. Her hands were warm. Or maybe he’d just turned entirely to ice out here and anything felt warmer than he did right now.

“Yeah, s-sorry.” His teeth were actually chattering. “B-but, while we’re alone, I wanted you to know that I like you a lot, as a—”

“Oh, Bow, I really like you too!”

“Yeah? Uh, that’s c-cool, but what I wanted to s-say was that—.”

“You poor thing. You’re freezing. Enough talking. Let me warm you up.”

Then she was kissing him and he froze, in some ways literally, because she’d pushed him back against one of the iced trees which was doing nothing to improve his core body temperature. After he got over his initial surprise, he moved onto panic.

Oh, no. This isn’t a friend date, is it? Perfuma actually like likes you and now she thinks you like like her and now there’s no way out of this and you’re going to have to marry her and have thirteen kids just to avoid the awkwardness of explaining this whole misunderstanding. She’s going to probably make you meditate every morning for the rest of your life and have salad for every meal and you’ll have to learn how to talk about harmonious energies and auras and know a succubus from a succulent and… he could cry right now.

Breathe, Bow. Maybe this isn’t a bad thing. You like Perfuma, right? She’s nice. You’re both friendly. It makes sense on paper.

OK. Kissing Perfuma. New experiences. Her lips were warm and kind of soft. That wasn’t so bad. He tried to relax since this was apparently a thing that was happening.

At least she smelled good. Though it was weird to be staring at her face up so close. Maybe he should close his eyes? Yeah, OK, that was a little less unnatural, but it was still really wet. And her hand was on his abs and he wasn’t sure he wanted it there?

And, wow yeah, that’s her tongue and, uh... he didn’t have a huge amount of experience with kissing but it seemed like maybe too much tongue? Like his mouth was just all tongue right now, and very little of it was his. Should he do something with his tongue back? Like that just seemed like tongue etiquette, but there wasn’t even room to move it anywhere so it was kind of cowering at the bottom of his mouth like “What? Is?? Happening???” He tried to move his lips around hers a little but she seemed to have her own plan of how this kiss was going to go and it mostly involved him standing there like, well, here is my face.

There was an announcement from the ballroom about the courses changing, and Bow took the opportunity to extract himself. Perfuma was smiling at him, her lips puffed and red. “I’ll bet that warmed you up.”

“Uh, yeah.” He laughed in a way that he hoped was more flirty than oh gods someone save me. He was warmer now, mostly because he felt like he was going to burst into flames from pure embarrassment. He had to get out of here. “But I think I’m going to just go run to the coat room real quick and grab my cumberbund.” So maybe you won’t try to touch my abs again. “I’ll be right back!”

He flew back through the doorway and almost collided with Mermista, half hidden behind a curtain, her hand tangled in Sea Hawk’s hair. Whatever they were doing with their tongues looked like a lot more fun than whatever had just happened to him. They disentangled and looked at him, Sea Hawk giving him a smirk before they were back at it. Did they know? Could they tell he and Perfuma had just—Ugh, this was such a nightmare.

He made his way across the dance floor, couples huddled together. He’d been thinking of this as a fun way to get to know a new friend, but apparently there was no friendship here, only tongues and hormones! He crashed into Netossa and Spinerella dancing close, giving each other bedroom eyes. He apologized, his face on fire, and kept moving across the room.

What was wrong with everyone? There’s a war going on! He should have just gone with Glimmer. They could have been goofing around and having fun and nothing would be complicated.

“Bow! Wait up!“

And then Glimmer was there, like he’d summoned her.

He exhaled, and all the tension immediately left his body. “Glimmer. Hi.” Save me. I think I accidentally made Perfuma fall in love with me and I don’t think I like her like that and now I don’t know what to do and she wants us to share a room tonight and she was touching my abs and that kiss was just SO BAD I can’t do it again.

“There’s something I need to tell you. I know things between us have been weird all night. I just wanted to say...” Glimmer began.

Thank goodness she was finally going to act normal. “I accept your—”

“I forgive you.”

What? All the fury he’d been holding in all night, at her, at himself, at this whole situation exploded at once."You forgive me? Glimmer, I’m allowed to hang out with other people."

“But that’s how it starts. Suddenly everyone has new friends, and no one needs me anymore. And then, I’m all alone.”

“What are you talking about? You have me, plus Adora and everyone who joined the Rebellion.” He could not believe her right now.

“That’s what I’m talking about. It used to be just us. And now, everything’s changing. I don’t want you to leave me behind.” She was holding his hand, and it was so nice and familiar and not awkward like it was with Perfuma but he was too irritated with her to be anything but annoyed by it.

“No one is leaving you behind. I wanted to hang out with you and Adora and Perfuma tonight. But you’re the one who keeps acting weird and leaving.” He would not be swayed just because she looked like she was about to cry. She’d created this whole mess herself! “I know change is scary, Glimmer. But that doesn’t mean you get to take it out on me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go get my cummerbund because it is freezing in here! We’ll talk later, okay?”

He stormed off. He’d find her later, but needed to cool down first. Not literally because he was still pretty cold, even angry as he was. It was just—damn it, Glimmer! Why was she being so absolutely infuriating? Maybe he should stay with Perfuma tonight and whatever happened happened and then maybe Glimmer would get it. Even though he wasn’t even sure what “it” was.

She’s wasted the whole evening sulking! She’s spent years looking forward to this ball! Since they were kids she’d been going on about it, talking about everything they’d do, all the fun they’d have… together. He stopped walking and stared at his reflection in the icy wall of the hallway. Together.

Oh gods, was he actually a huge idiot?

He needed to go talk to her. Right now. Well, in a minute anyway, once he’d gotten his cumberbund because it was even colder out here than it had been in the ballroom. He started for the coat room again. He’d just grab it and then go and find Glimmer again, and they could finally sort this whole thing—

Hold on. Was that… Scorpia?


	3. Chapter 3

Bow was laying face down on the floor on his prison cell in the Fright Zone trying to look on the bright side. This was challenging, given the circumstances, but he'd come up with a few things.

For starters, his jaw didn't seem to be broken. Sure, it hurt like hell, but he could move it so that seemed like a pretty good sign. But damn that lizard guy could throw a hell of a punch.

Secondly, he was pretty sure his rib wasn't broken either. Bruised, maybe, because every deep breath felt like his chest was on fire but probably not fully broken. The girl with the braids who’d kicked him there had gotten him in the stomach with one of those stun batons too but he was pretty sure you couldn't break your stomach. Though from the way it ached right now, maybe you could.

Thirdly, most of the bugs on this floor he was laying on didn't seem to be biters. Something kept nipping at the exposed skin on his left arm but it was so minor compared to the pain all over the rest of his body, he didn't even attempt to move it. He'd seem some truly horrifying crawly things over in the corner he'd never seen before in his life but he was adhering to a policy of only dealing with things that were an immediate threat. 

Lastly, he was still alive, which might be more than he could say about Glimmer.

That got him to finally move. 

Some of Scorpia's venom must still be in his system because his head felt cottony. He had a bad feeling the sleepy feeling of the venom was muting the pain of the bruises and cuts all over the rest of his body because the longer he was in here, the worse he felt. That pounding feeling in his head was definitely new. 

If he could at least get closer to the wall, he could get upright. He groaned as he slid his leg forward in an attempt to crawl. Now that he was moving, whole muscle groups hurt he hadn't even thought about when he'd been lying still on the floor. But he had to get up. It didn't matter how much pain he was in, he couldn't just lie here when she could be... He wasn't going to think about it. 

It felt like it took hours, though who knew how much time had really passed in this horrible gray rectangle, before he finally crawled himself close enough to the wall that he could pull himself up to lean against it. It didn't really improve his situation at all, the floor had been hard but at least he hadn't had to hold his pounding head upright himself, but at least it made him feel a little bit more in control than just lying exactly where they tossed him in. 

Something dripped down onto his forehead. He wiped it off and his fingers came back red. Well, that explained the headache. He leaned his head against the cold metal wall of the cell and tried to think. 

How long had it been? He had no idea how long it took for the venom to work its way through his system the first time. He just remembered hearing Glimmer scream and clawing himself back to consciousness through that horrible leaden feeling, his eyes finally focusing only to see Shadow Weaver doing something to the person he cared about most in the world, something that was hurting her. She was floating a foot off the ground, surrounded by red electricity and the sounds of pain she was making... He wasn't sure exactly what he'd done next, he'd been half drunk on venom and fury, but all he'd known was that they were not going to do that to her. They were not going to hurt his best friend like that. 

He'd gotten the worst of that fight but he hadn't quit, hadn't given up even when Shadow Weaver had led Glimmer away, trailing behind her like some kind of terrible balloon. They'd eventually had to call Scorpia over to sting him again. There was a weird kind of pride to that, that they realized he wasn't going to stop unless he was unconscious. Of course, he probably wouldn't even still be here if they hadn't needed him for ransom or bait or something. But if they were under orders not to kill him, maybe that meant Glimmer was still OK too. 

He had to believe she was. Had to or he would lose it completely. Because if the last time he ever saw her was her screaming in pain as Shadow Weaver wrapped her in whatever nightmare magic that was, if the last time they'd spoken was that stupid fight at Princess Prom... He didn't want to cry here, didn't want the Horde to see, but he didn't have the energy to wipe his tears away. 

He dug his nails into his palm, the image of the last time he’d seen her burned into his mind. Her fancy clothes all torn, covered in injuries, her magic already spent before Shadow Weaver even got there. How long was she fighting them alone before he’d even woke up? 

He’d failed her utterly. Even when he’d come to and fought like hell and it still hadn’t made a difference. He still hadn’t been able to keep them from taking her. 

Get it together. Breath in, out. Now is not the time to fall apart. 

Their friends would come for them. She-Ra. Maybe the princess alliance. Except that was no consolation because if any of them got hurt that would be his fault too. This whole thing was his fault.  
Glimmer must have gone after him. Of course she did. Emotion flared in his chest, warm and painful at the thought. And then they’d taken her too. She’d been trying to rescue him even when he should have been watching out for her, when it was because of his stupidity that they were even separated in the first place, and now… 

That horrible scream of pain she made when Shadow Weaver trapped her in that red lightning echoed in his head. His body tensed as if it was happening to him. He wished it was. The Horde could do whatever it wanted to him as long as nobody ever hurt her like that again. 

He’d been such an ass to her at the dance. It haunted him. She was clearly upset and being Glimmer about it and instead of just letting her weird comments slide or talking to her about it he'd snapped at her. And for what?

It's not like he was having that great a time with Perfuma anyway. 

Why hadn't he just gone to the dance with Glimmer in the first place? That’s what he’d wanted to do in the first place! He should have just told Perfuma he'd changed his mind. She would have understood!   
If we'd been together, none of this would have happened. We would have protected each other. That’s how it’s supposed to be, how it’s always been and he had to go and screw it up. 

He could picture it so easily. The exact same evening but with Glimmer on his arm instead of Perfuma. Every moment that had been awkward would have been funny. No weird touching, no miscommunication because they already knew everything there was to know about each other. He actually smiled, thinking about dancing with Glimmer, her smirking at him every time they met back up in the crowd, trying to do fancy moves to make him laugh and tripping over her own feet half the time. 

Sometimes he thought about her and it felt like his chest would explode with warmth. Everything was better when he was with her. If they got out of this, he would never, ever forget that again. 

It was probably just a delusion, some by product of venom or head trauma or both, but he inexplicably thought of the moment out on the patio. That was a weird thing to think about, wasn't it? Kissing Glimmer? It was Glimmer! But he’d bet anything even that would have been better with her too. He held onto the image for a long moment before pushing it down to deal with later. 

That was enough wallowing. He had to figure out how to get out of here and help Glimmer. There was a tray of something that was probably food near the door. He certainly didn't feel like eating right now but he probably should to keep up his strength. 

Maybe whoever brought the food was someone he could befriend, get some information out of. If he turned on the charm, he might be able to get them to bring her a message. He had his strengths, even if it wasn't magic blasts or super strength. 

It wasn't much of a plan but it gave him a little bit of hope.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next scene in this should really be shortly after they are rescued from the Horde and Bow is worrying about Glimmer's glitching and trying to sort out his feelings but I actually already wrote that as a standalone fic, called Web of Lies, here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24853432
> 
> So rather than repeat myself, we're jumping ahead to right after the Battle of Bright Moon.

Bow was still feeling the giddy buzz of victory, even though it had been hours since the Princess Alliance had won the Battle of Bright Moon and sent Catra scurrying back to the Fright Zone with her tail between her legs. The impromptu victory party the castle staff threw together was just winding down, and the mayhem of hugs and cheers had settled into clusters of tired but happy conversation between new friends who’d just accomplished something amazing together. Considering a few hours ago it had looked like they were about to lose everything, Bow couldn't imagine a better ending to the day. 

He’d starting making his goodbyes and edging towards the hallway. His golden armor looked impressive, but it was heavy and jabbing him in the side every time he hugged someone. It was well past time to take it off. A quick shower and then he could change into pajamas for the Best Friend Squad Victory Sleepover! The three of them were too excited to sleep anyway, so a celebratory sleepover in Glimmer’s room gave them an excuse to keep the party going even after Angella made them clear out of the main hall. 

Adora had already excused herself to get ready a little while ago, but Glimmer was still giving an enthralled Sea Hawk and bemused Mermista an animated recap of how she’d pushed Shadow Weaver’s magic into Scorpia. Bow watched her for a minute, even though he’d heard the story easily a dozen times already. You wouldn’t think someone could somehow look badass and cute at the same time, but with that suit of armor she was pulling it off. 

The strength it took to push all that dark magic out of herself like that. The way she fought even when she had no magic. How none of this would have even happened if she hadn’t pushed to get the alliance back together in the first place. As her best friend, he was pretty much already president of the Glimmer fan club, but she still amazed him every single day. 

“Bow?” Perfuma appeared next to him, her hand on his arm. 

“Oh, hey, Perfuma. Great job today!” It came out a little too loud, but this was the first time they’d been alone — well, alone ish — since she’d kissed him at Princess Prom. It felt like an entire lifetime had happened since then. But having her so close suddenly made the awkwardness of that moment come crashing back. He forced a smile and tried not to think about how much of her tongue had been in his mouth. 

“You too!” She leaned closer, tucking a bit of her hair behind her ear. Her voice was soft. “Can I talk to you for a moment?” 

“I guess, sure.” Gods, he wished he could just teleport away right now. 

She gave his arm a squeeze and guided him to the side so they were a little apart from the others. It was just the two of them along the wall and it felt very private when everyone else had clustered together in groups. Queen Angella glanced their way, her eyes lingering on them for a moment, before she turned back to her conversation with Netossa. Bow leaned against the nearest column, so maybe it looked like he was just casually standing here, not like… whatever it actually was. 

“So, what’s up?” Bow realized he was tapping his foot obsessively and forced it to be still. 

Perfuma slid her hand down his arm and took his hand. “I was wondering. With everything that happened at Princess Prom, we never got to finish our date. Do you think you might like to try again while I’m staying here at Bright Moon?” 

“Oh, uh...” His eyes looked everywhere but at Perfuma. Across the room, Glimmer was watching him. She smiled when he caught her eye, but there was definitely some of that panicked edge to her expression that had been there at Princess Prom. He turned back to Perfuma and noticed she’d been following his gaze, her eyebrows knit. He pushed off from the wall and turned to face the flower princess. “Perfuma, I had a great time at the ball with you. Well, until I got captured, obviously. But with everything going on with the Horde and the war... I’m not really up for...” He exhaled. “Do you think we could just stay friends?” 

Perfuma looked at him for a long moment and then glanced over at Glimmer, which was weird. She nodded and let go of his hand. “Of course. Friends would be wonderful.”

“Maybe someday, after the war if over, we could...” Try again? Did he even want that? Honestly, he’d rather be kidnapped by the Horde again than relive that kiss. 

“Maybe.” Perfuma leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Even after all that fighting, she still smelled awesome. “Goodnight, Bow!” 

He watched her walk down the hall towards her guest room, feeling weirdly guilty and relieved at the same time. He turned and shrieked to find Glimmer standing right next to him like she’d appeared out of nowhere, which, knowing Glimmer, she probably had. She had her arms crossed over her chest and you would not think someone that tiny and sparkly could look scary, but her expression was terrifying. 

“Glimmer!” 

“Come on. Everyone’s going to bed. We’re supposed to be getting ready for our sleepover.” She grabbed his arm and started dragging him down the hallway towards their rooms. They made it halfway down the hallway before she stopped and spun to face him though she wouldn’t actually look him in the eyes. “Look. You can hang out with whoever you want. But I’m your best friend. So if you like Perfuma, like LIKE like her, you have to at least tell me.” 

“I don’t!” He crossed his arms against his chest. “I mean, I like her but just, like, one like. She just asked me if I wanted to go out again and I said I just wanted to be friends.” She looked up, surprised. Something petty flared up inside him. “What about you? Do you LIKE like Adora?”

“Adora??” Glimmer snorted. “Why would you even think that?”

Now he was the one who couldn’t meet her eyes. “Because you’re always staring every time she turns into She-Ra.”

“Uh, because She-Ra is hot! I mean, she’s all muscles and glowy and, you know, lady BIG! But then she turns into Adora and she’s… Adora.” He glanced at her and she was waving her hands around like the very idea of LIKE liking their friend Adora was nonsensical. “Wait, were you jealous of me and Adora?”

“No! Were you jealous of me and Perfuma?”

“Of course not!” Glimmer shook her head at him. “But I don’t get it. You looked like you were having a pretty good time with her at Princess Prom.”

“Yeah, well, I think I would have had a better time if I hadn’t gone with the wrong princess.” 

She looked up at him with this little smirk that made him feel warm all over, and he couldn’t help but burst into a big grin. Then for some reason he couldn’t have even begun to explain, he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. 

“You were amazing today.” 

She blushed and shoved him. “Yeah, well, I’m just glad we won. And I got my powers back. But now I just want to shower all this grossness off. I smell terrible.”

“You never smell terrible. You always smell… like the moon.” He had no idea why he’d said it, but she spun around and he cracked up laughing when she made exactly the face he knew she would. 

“What does the moon even smell like? You’re such a weirdo. Come on, it’s sleepover time.”

She started back down the hallway and he followed, feeling lighter than he’d felt in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading this! This was supposed to be a one-shot that spiraled out of control. I was mostly writing it to organize my thoughts about Princess Prom and Bow's feelings about all of that (in particular so I could then put Glimmer through it in my Prince Bow / Archer Glimmer swap fic https://archiveofourown.org/works/26386084 and see how she would react differently) but I love that people enjoyed getting to see all my headcanons about Princess Prom smashed together in fictional form.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always hugely appreciated no matter how long after posting it is!
> 
> Visit my Tumblr for asks, fic updates and misc thoughts. [https://tippenfunkaport.tumblr.com](https://tippenfunkaport.tumblr.com/)


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